Immelt earned $15 million in ’06

Former NBC head Wright made slightly more

The chairman and chief executive of General Electric, parent company of NBC Universal, received $15.2 million in compensation last year, according to a company proxy filed Tuesday.

But GE also disclosed that CEO Jeffrey Immelt’s pay package was still a bit smaller than that for Robert Wright, the longtime head of NBC.

Immelt, 51, was paid $3.3 million in salary, a $5 million bonus and $548,013 in other benefits, including private use of company airplanes. In addition, he was awarded performance share units and stock options that were valued at $6.3 million on the day they were granted last year. The performance units will convert into GE stock after five years if the company meets certain financial benchmarks, according to the proxy.

The company’s compensation committee based its decisions on Immelt’s performance against his financial, strategic and operational goals for 2006, the proxy statement said.

In the statement, the committee said that the company had an excellent year and Immelt retained an excellent team.

Wright, who until recently headed NBC Universal, received more than $15.6 million in compensation, including $520,291 in above-market earnings on an employee salary deferral plan.